So my Growth Management class professor (and no, it is not a class about that special time in your life) mentioned feral cats, which are in fact my second favorite class of feral animals (feral goats are naturally my favorite). I found it rather odd considering that my neighborhood is undergoing its own special brand of feralization. Essentially, feral cats are taking over my neighborhood. Twice I have had to swerve to avoid hitting them. I suppose there must have been a dozen or so of them. Where do they come from and why are they here?I know enough about evolution and biology, &c., so I can wager a guess as to how their numbers have increased. What is to be done about those feral cats? Or should they be here at all?
Pros of feral cats in the neighborhood:
Control of the lizard population. Potential minion pool. A ball of catnip + yarn + fresca = a memorable Saturday night. One of the cats reminds me of Dame Judi Dench (For its sake I hope it's not a tom).
Cons of the exploding feral cat population:
Potential accident from the swerving to avoid them. Vicious attacks from the leader cats. Feline AIDs, the #1 killer of cats. Pain associated with seeing cats fight: Why can't they all just get along?
I have narrowed my options down to four top choices:
1. Calling animal control. 2. Feeding the cats, thus building up an army of minion cats. 3. Giving the cats the Bob Barker treatment. 4. Getting in contact with Alf.
Where do the cats come from and why are they here? I suppose that is the existential question those feral cats are asking themselves right now.
1 comment:
I'm glad you brought up a subject so near and dear to my heart chad! I can now comment profusely on this, perhaps to the point of you wishing you hadn't mentioned it at all:
Feral cats, as you may know, are domesticated breeds of cats that live in the wild. A pet cat at some point gets out, or a person just lets their cat stay outside most of the time. That cat starts to live off of mice and snakes and such, and eventually mates with another cat. The original cat is often friendly and will approach people with caution, but usually their offspring run from humans and have very limited contact with them. These kittens consequently don't get fixed and have kittens who are also feral, and thus won't approach humans and thus don't get fixed. It's a vicious cycle. Because these cats are in the "wild" (mostly just not directly dependent on humans other than eating the crap they throw out) they often develop colonies, increasing reproduction rates. There is an actual heirarcy. They get to have awesome parties in the streets. Best of all, tomcats actually have a function as chief of the gang and get awesomely huge jowls and awesomely fat and are really freaking cool. It's a win-win situation.
Normally animals reverting back to a more wild existence isn't a big deal, but feral cats do it in close proximity to humans, thus causing things like accidents, people's pet cats getting pregnant and contributing to the ridiculous pet overpopulation, cat fights, etc.
Luckily, there is a solution! Many cities with high feral cat populations have trap/release programs. They set traps for feral cats, knock em out, spay/neuter them, then let them go. This way they can continue their wild way of living without making the problem worse. If a cat is really nice, they may sometimes be adopted out, depending on the program in the area (they don't here in Gville.) I met a really cool tom caught by animal control in tallahassee. Biggest cat I've ever met, but he had the meow of a kitten, it was adorable.
So what can you, chad, do to help control the feral cat population?
1. spay/neuter any cat you may ever get.
2. if you happen to make friends with a feral/stray cat, contact Operation Catnip (http://sacs.vetmed.ufl.edu/catnip/index.shtml)
3. yada yada yada.
I hope this reply was as informational as you'd hoped it would be.
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